A man allegedly called in a bomb threat to the Maine jail where he was being held.
Benjamin Steven Tinker allegedly called the Portland Press Herald about 2:15 p.m. Wednesday to make a bomb threat against the Cumberland County Jail, according to the Cumberland County Sheriff’s Office.
The Press Herald reported the threat to the Portland Police Department, which then alerted the jail.
It took corrections officers eight minutes to determine the call came from within the jail and to identify Tinker as the suspect, the sheriff’s office said Thursday morning.
Tinker has been held at the Portland jail since August 2025 on charges of arson, criminal mischief and criminal threatening with a deadly weapon.
The hoax remains under investigation.
